Your paycheck a little lighter? Here's why

YORK — James Albin will know who to blame should his parents not be able to afford to buy him a car later this year: President Barack Obama and his fellow legislators.

“I budget,” said Brian Albin of Spring Grove and James Albin’s father. “I make up an Excel spreadsheet for the whole year. With my salary, this payroll tax will take out a substantial amount for the year.”

As part of the ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations, lawmakers opted not to extend the Social Security payroll tax holiday.

In January 2011, congressional leaders approved a payroll tax holiday that reduced tax on gross wages by 2 percent.Now, those taxes have reverted to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent. So, a family who earns $50,000 annually will lose about $1,000 a year to increased taxes.

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“What irks me, is that (lawmakers) didn’t vote on the spending cuts but they did manage to implement a tax increase,” Brian Albin said.

Last month, the chief financial officer of JFC Staffing sent out an email to all the company’s workers explaining how their wages would slip because of the new taxes, said Cathy Dallas, vice president of JFC Temps.

The regional temporary employment firm has offices in York County, Lancaster County, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, Carlisle and Chambersburg.

“I worry for temporary workers the most,” she said. “Their payscale is different, and taking money out of their pocket like this is worrisome. The middle class, those just getting by, are going to have to figure it out.”

Some workers might start looking for new, higher paying jobs to help offset the added expense of the taxes, Dallas said.

“This will make us all work a little bit harder,” she said. “You might see people looking for second jobs just to make enough money to make ends meet.”

Another potential result is the slowing of consumer spending, a payroll tax side effect that could damage the economy, Dallas said.

For example, families such as the Albins may be forced to do without something just to have money to buy what they deem most important.

In order for James Albin to slip behind the wheel of his first car, one of two things will have to happen: Brian Albin will need to make budget cuts that could include forgoing vacation or his wife, a stay-at-home mom, will need to find a job.

“We are a single-income family and that might need to change,” said Brian Albin, a network engineer for the U.S. Navy who works for Adaptive Methods in Maryland.